which, according to VP Rob Pardo, “better reflects the design of our game.” So there!

It’s further explained: “In accordance with the agreement, Valve will continue to use DOTA commercially, including DOTA 2, while Blizzard will preserve noncommercial use of DOTA for its community with regard to player-created maps for Warcraft III and StarCraft II.”

And all is well again. The big chiefs have released statements to assure things have been smoothed over as well.

“Both Blizzard and Valve recognize that, at the end of the day, players just want to be able to play the games they’re looking forward to,” Pardo says, “so we’re happy to come to an agreement that helps both of us stay focused on that.”

Adds Valve boss Gabe Newell: “We’re pleased that we could come to an agreement with Blizzard without drawing things out in a way that would benefit no one.”

Naughty Dog has released preliminary patch noted for Uncharted 3 update 1.11 which will be released at the end of the month, which also hails the return of The Lab.Here’s what is coming with the patch:

The Lab returns and we begin the playlist with a T-bolt/Pistole-only map. We will be rolling out other game types as the year progresses.The Lab will contain treasure drops from whatever the base game type is (the T-bolt/Pistole map is considered Team Deathmatch).Elimination Mode has been added.

Elimination mode will contain treasure drops from Team Deathmatch.Message of the Day returns – a daily message will pop up with news, tips, and other information.If you leave a game, disconnect, or turn off your PS3 mid-game, it will be counted as a loss.Kill and deaths no longer count towards your career stats in Plunder and Team Objective modes.The technical hooks to make the Game of the Year edition (EU) work properly with DLC were added.In Team Deathmatch mode the Airstrip and London maps now are listed with “No Intro” variations. If these variations are selected you’ll start those maps with no convoy events.The Long Ranger Medal can now be earned by achieving 3 kills at 50 meters in a match instead of 3 kills at 70 meters.

Among the folks who’ve been wondering where all the official Battlefield 3 servers have ran off to? Nowhere, really. You’ve just been renting them all, silly.

Since DICE debuted its rent-a-server service, it’s become all but impossible to find official servers, which has led players to believe that the people in charge went over to the dark side and have been throwing the weight of hosting servers completely on players’ shoulders.

An EA rep has explained to GameSpot: “DICE is not shutting down servers. If DICE-managed servers appear unavailable, it is because they have been rented and customized by players. DICE will continue to add servers and will reserve a percentage of servers for players who prefer to connect through DICE-hosted servers.”

Taking part in lengthy 1500 ticket matches is nice and all, but getting kicked for no other reason than showing initiative and whooping the host team’s butts is never fun. Perhaps the solution lies in the possibility to simply filter out rented servers?

Gate Five is a small studio that dreamed of making a game called Starpower: Beyonce. Everything seemed to be going well until last December when the star suddenly pulled the plug on the deal just as Gate Five had secured funding for development, forcing the studio to immediately lay off 70 workers.Now a judge has decided that the lawsuit for a whopping $100 million in damages for the studio. While Gate Five must be thrilled with the decision, it won’t mean much because the case won’t be tried until later this Summer. It seems like a lot of money when the original deal was only $20 million.

While the upcoming PSN port of Dreamcast favourite Jet Set Radio will primarily focus on familiar content, SEGA is adding a fresh layer of artwork to the classic. Sure, they're part of a user-created contest, but it's new content nonetheless.Scrub through the video below to see all of the new designs — and find yourself staggered by the number of winners based in London.

For a game that’s been shrouded in secrecy for the past five years, people sure do suddenly know a lot about Beyond Good & Evil 2. We thought this week’s sneaky screenshot would put an end to the leaks, but Unseen64 has followed up with a full environment trailer showing off the same urban setting glimpsed in the secret snap.The art direction and visual fidelity sure look great, but we’re more interested in the music.

Subject: Pre-Order The Amazing Spider-Man to Play as Stan Lee Sun May 13, 2012 9:46 pm

Register your interest in the game at Amazon and you’ll snatch up the ability to play as the Marvel mastermind himself, Stan Lee. Seriously. The comic book legend supposedly uses special abilities borrowed from Spidey in order to collect pages from his latest script. Grab them all and a “special surprise” will be revealed at the end of the mission, designed to tie into Spider-Man’s 50th anniversary this year.

If the thought of playing as a grey haired web slinger doesn’t have you clutching for your wallet, GameStop's announced an alternative pre-order bonus starring the Rhino. This additional mission will see you attempting to break as much stuff as possible in a given time limit.

I think we all saw this one coming; Square Enix and Crystal Dynamic’s Tomb Raider has been delayed.Now a January-March 2013 release, the reboot will, according to studio head Darrell Gallagher, only benefit from the decision.He explains: “We’re doing things that are completely new to Tomb Raider in this game and the additional development time will allow us to put the finishing touches into the game and polish it to a level that you deserve.“Our priority now is to make sure we fully deliver the very highest quality game. In order to do this, we have decided to move the game’s release date by a few months.”

Ok from the gameplay in this video, i'm liking this alot more. The earlier trailers i've seen they didn't make it look very appealing & it looked very repetitive.I love Bayonetta & platinum is good at making action titles & Metal Gear Rising & this trailer makes it look alot better. [/color]

I think we all saw this one coming; Square Enix and Crystal Dynamic’s Tomb Raider has been delayed.Now a January-March 2013 release, the reboot will, according to studio head Darrell Gallagher, only benefit from the decision.He explains: “We’re doing things that are completely new to Tomb Raider in this game and the additional development time will allow us to put the finishing touches into the game and polish it to a level that you deserve.“Our priority now is to make sure we fully deliver the very highest quality game. In order to do this, we have decided to move the game’s release date by a few months.”

The game looks amazing, but I have to point out, that with that injury, (realistically) Laura would not be able to move like that, jump and performing all those agility based moves. I think the direction they started off from was brilliant anf they should have stuck with that, which would have been a different opening all together. After she treated the injury though, I think they could have did what they did after she fell. Overall though the game looks incredible, and I'm interested in what they will show at E3.

Senior vice president Christian Svensson has said Capcom is taking feedback on board regarding its unpopular on-disc DLC adventures, and seems set to jettison the strategy entirely.We would like to assure you that we have been listening to your comments and as such have begun the process of re-evaluating how such additional game content is delivered in the future,” Svensson wrote on Capcom Unity’s forums.

The executive’s next comment suggests that Capcom has decided to axe on-disc DLC as soon as possible, as it half-apologises for those upcoming games which utilise the tech:

As this process has only just commenced in the past month or so, there will be some titles, where development began some time ago and that are scheduled for release in the coming months, for which we are unable to make changes to the way some of their post release content is delivered,” he said.

Svensson mentioned that Dragon’s Dogma, Capcom’s next release, will have on-disc DLC, because the decision was made early in development.

That said, Svensson stressed that not all of the DLC available for the action RPG will be on-disc, and that core content included in the cover price will stretch to “30-40 hours of gameplay” or even “around 100 hours” if players explore all side quests.

“Just wanted people to know in advance the whys, wherefores and where we’re going in the future. You are being heard. Thanks,” Svensson concluded.

Capcom has come under fire for its on-disc DLC strategy with fighters like Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Street Fighter x Tekken, as well as the significant story content of premium DLC for Asura’s Wrath.

Whatever Capcom, too little to late. Downloadable content already on disc isn't the issue with me, it's the fact that Capcom & every other developer goes through the content & decides what will be withheld & sold as downloadable content to the public. And that is abuse of the concept downloadable content.

Subject: Ghost Recon: Alpha short film now available Mon May 14, 2012 10:32 pm

Ghost Recon Alpha – the 25-minute long prequel film to the upcoming game Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, – is now freely available, having previously been limited to select channels. Watch the Ghosts strike swiftly to eliminate one of the world’s most feared war criminals. The short film is high on production values and looks amazing. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier releases on May 18 for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia has dismissed criticism of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2′s somewhat elderly engine.Black Ops 2 will use of the same engine as several earlier entires in the Call of Duty franchise; it was first debuted in 2005 with Modern Warfare.

Despite this, Lamia told Activision community manager Dan Amrich’s One of Swords column that he feels the game will make a significant leap thanks to extensive improvements made to that “foundation”.

“People always ask me, ‘Is this a new engine?’ I liken it to people who live in an older house that has been remodeled,” he said.

“Just because you’re remodeling the house and it will look new or it will have a new kitchen, you don’t tear out the foundation, or break out some of the framing.

“Engines, each time they get touched, they change. The creators alter them; they don’t modify what they don’t need to, and then they alter what they need to. You can’t make a competitive product if you’re not upgrading that engine along the way.”Lamia said that what people are really asking for is for Treyarch to “push” and that treyarch had considered using a new engine.

Square Enix has released a stylish trailer for Final Fantasy XIII-2′s Requiem of the Goddess DLC pack. The content pack will release in Japan today, and details the fight between Lightning and Caius. Completing the DLC missions will allow you to unlock the newer Lightning character model for your team. The DLC will also arrive in the west, but has no launch date yet. Two other DLC packs are also releasing today – The Snow and Valfodr DLC pack and the Mage and Moogle costume DLC pack.

It is a downloadable episode for Snow, centered around the theme “Don’t Fight for Me.” The idea for this sceanrio came from the game’s female staff, and will show the feelings Snow and Serah have for each other. It will also shed light on Snow’s mission as a l’Cie, as well as the mystery behind the coliseum.

Valfodr is a boss character that shows up a few times throughout the episode, but first during the second half of the episode. Each time he returns throughout the episode, he comes back at a higher level. He is the coliseum’s strongest opponent, and was added to the game with the mindset that he would be its last boss.